houston | Danny Clark

Sep

Direct Reflection of 365 Days.

Officially it has been a little over a year since Hurricane Harvey impacted my family. It has honestly been a long year with insurance, schools, growing up, growing older, staying focused, and self-care. Unfortunately on the list of life ingredients self-care has been one of my last items. My avoidance of self-care is not intentional but an unfortunate truth.

Self-care is incredibly important, and I am easily swayed to do something else besides taking care of myself. The combination of starting graduate school and being displaced by Hurricane Harvey all in the same week was never something I planned. However, I continue to look at the situation as a learning opportunity rather than a barrier to success in both my degree and my creative life.

What I have learned most is that I love research. I am presently working on my clinical masters of social work and have found creativity to be thriving throughout this journey. Art therapy, play therapy, creative writing, and even research have creativity pouring from its veins. There is creativity in how I work with clients, how I speak to someone else’s truth and autonomy, and how I can be an agent of change.

My YouTube videos have always been a lot of fun to create and share. My original intent was to share what I create with my kids. My intention has never changed, and I plan to do more videos but with a slight modification. I want to share what I have learned about self-reflection and purpose when creating art. The importance of art has less to do with the “how” and more to do with the “why” I am creating art. This new direction is my self-care plan.

I encourage everyone to reflect on what they genuinely love to do and find a way to make that an essential part of your day. Find what makes the heart happy and when fear wells up, look into the eyes of the beast and create something that fear has no choice but to take pause and smile.

The image above is a look into my watercolor journal. I play a lot with color and love to see how colors will work together much like music works together. There is so much you can do with watercolor!

Aug

How You Can Help – Harvey Recovery – Houston

Hello friends,

I have been asked by a lot of you what you can do to help. As some of you know Denise and I flooded during Allison and learned quite a bit about the process. Here are some things to keep in mind as well things you can do to prepare for what comes next. Some of this information may not pertain to you but may help guide you in some direction.

Because of the shock from flooding will persist for days and weeks, a lot of people you go to help may be confused and disoriented. In some cases, you may need to help make decisions for them, but the following information may be helpful.

Immediately call your flood insurance provider to start your claim. Call your auto insurance provider to start your vehicle claims…REGISTER WITH FEMA!! (www.disasterassistance.gov) They are amazingly fast believe it or not. Choose direct deposit option and text notifications.

Before The Cleaning Starts

1. Take photos! Take photos of everything that you can. The most important ones for your insurance are the water lines for all side of your home as well as your interior walls. The best way to do this is to take a photo with something of a reference. If you can grab a yard stick, have that in every photo for measurement. The perspective will help adjusters review your images. After Allison, adjusters could not get to us for weeks if not months. These photos are vital for your recovery.

2. ANTS! There will be fire ants on EVERYTHING! Be sure to use gloves and be very careful when you do begin to move items around.

3. Mosquitoes are going to get very bad. If you can bring anything to your friends, it will be gloves and repellent.

Now For The Clean Up

2. Because of Flood Insurance, you will only get a percentage of your content losses. Back to Photographs. You will want to take a photo of everything that water touched. EVEN IF IT IS NOT SOMETHING, YOU THINK IS NOT IMPORTANT. If you bought a roll of toilet paper and you need to replace it, take a photo of it. If you had $300 worth of ground beef in a freezer, photo it. You get the idea.

Here is how this process works well. Instead of photographing every single thing, make a space somewhere that items can be staged. Lay out as much as you can fit in a photo and then make a list of each item. You will use this list later. On your list you will need:

-the item
-what room it was in when flooded
-the age
-any model number and make
-replacement value

3. Here is the order of getting stuff out I will be taking:

Food:
The best way to start getting stuff out is to start with any food that will begin to rot. Try to put this in separate trash bags from flood junk. There is going to be a lot of trash and debris everywhere, so the critters will start coming out.

Furniture:
Get the furniture out and if it is salvageable then start cleaning it up. Flood water is nasty so clean it up fast.

Photos:
If you have photos sitting in water, DO NOT TRY AND SEPARATE THEM. Photo paper (NOT INKJET PAPER) can get wet. You can take a bucket or container and fill it with clean water then submerge the photos is the water. Let them sit a little and then you can gently pull them apart. Try to hang dry so that the water will drip off of the paper. This process also works with DVDs and CDs however, if you will see them apart without letting them soak you will destroy them. Inkjet prints, sorry those are gone.

RUGS AND CARPET:
Get all the rugs out fast. These are mold nests and get nasty. Also, carpet needs to come out. But be careful, there are lots of opportunities to get cut. YOU HAVE TO LEAVE A 3 FOOT X 3 FOOT section with carpet pad for the adjuster to look at when they do arrive.

Walls:
If you can start knocking out the sheetrock, cut above your flood line. The insulation is going to be soaked so get that out too. Be sure to wear gloves and long sleeves when doing this. Also, if you power is working, you may want to shut it off during this period, so you don’t accidentally cut through a line and electrocute yourself.
Sheetrock comes in 4X8 sheets if you got less than 4 feet try not to cut above 4 feet if you got more than 4 feet just cut above the line because it’s going to have to all be replaced.

After you have done this, you will need to photo everything again. Make sure you get every wall and include where your electrical boxes are located and photo that too.

Let’s talk about insurance a second.
This is a very frustrating part of the process. One thing we were unaware of with Allison was that Flood Insurance is not Homeowners Insurance. If you have flood insurance, then you are good but will be limited because it is a federal program. Flood insurance does not cover any living expenses. So your hotels or apartments you are going to stay in will not be covered. However, there is assistance through FEMA for specific hotels. (Transitional Housing Program through FEMA)

When we flooded during Allison, our insurance rep told us to move into an apartment and that our homeowner’s insurance would take care of it. This info was not true, because home owners insurance DOES NOT COVER FLOODS. This is why the area deemed a disaster is important. If you did not have flood insurance, you will need to get with FEMA as soon as possible. Even if you have flood insurance, you still need to use FEMA. There are other programs you can utilize that may help. FEMA will also refer you to the Small Business Administration (SBA) which can provide very low-interest loans for the difference of loss that insurance doesn’t cover up to $200,000.

I’m not going to lie, this is going to be a real pain in the ass dealing with the insurance, but it is hard when you have all the stress and trauma from the flood mounting. If you are helping a flood victim, they will need your level head to navigate the system.

I hope that helps get you started. Everyone that is in need of help will be grateful for you. They may not express it right away, they may even get fussy with you, but just remember it is not you that they are upset with. Also, it’s going to be very emotional, make sure you take care of yourself and give yourself time to process what is happening.

Below are some links with more info.

FEMA:
http://www.disasterassistance.gov
http://www.myflood.com

LIST OF THINGS TO BRING TO YOUR FRIENDS HOUSE:

Gloves – work gloves and rubber gloves
Bug Spray – Mosquitoes will be bad, and they are going to get worse
Masks – It is going to smell, and there will be lots of molds
Crow Bars and Saws – For removing sheetrock and carpet
Extra Shoes and Socks – Your feet are going to get wet.
Wear Protective clothes – Long sleeve and jeans

If you have a bug sprayer and some bleach bring it so you can disinfect the walls to top any mold growth.

There is more, but this is all I can think of now.

We will add more as we think about it. Good luck and thank you for all the support. All this water will just make Houston sparkle more when the sun comes out.

Aug

Houston – My Family – And What You Can Do To Help

Hello all,

First let me say that my family is safe, dry and comfortable in a hotel in Houston. We have flooded before, and I want nothing Unfortunately our home did flood, but we were able to get all the super important stuff to storage long before the storm arrived.

For the rest of Houston and our friends, there is going to be a lot of help needed. If you have never been through a flood, just imagine your entire house filled with the contents of a port-o-potty. That is pretty much how it looks and smells. Locally we are physically hands on, but there are ways in which you can help. Below is a link to an article with all the different organizations that are working on the recovery.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-weather/hurricaneharvey/article/Hurricane-Harvey-How-to-help-victims-of-the-12003372.php

This storm takes a giant tole on a lot of peoples physical health as well as mental health. We will not just be rebuilding homes we will be rebuilding lives.

Please keep everyone in your prayers!

Danny

Apr

More water than anything

More than water

This blog has been a holding site for the last couple of years as I found out more about myself and where I want to be going forward. After 15 years growing a photography studio, I finally decided to go back to doing what I loved, art. Over the last couple of years, I have found that my true self is from being a creator and a healer. It took a lot of work to come to that realization, but it has helped me focus more on my art and my future.

Luckily I have somewhat of a plan going forward for at least the next few years. In August of this year, I start graduate school at the University of Houston School of Social Work. Graduate school is going to be a difficult task, but I am excited for the opportunity to eventually help people work through issues of addiction and trauma. Eventually I plan to incorporate art and therapy together.

In the meantime, I am busy working on a lot of new pieces to have available alongside my new website. Please keep an eye out here for where my works will be showing. Thanks for sticking around during this odd transition. I hope it becomes much more informative and entertaining.

Feb

Meister Eckhart

Over the last few years, I have done a lot of reading around historic mystics and philosophers. I know this may seem rather boring to some, but for me it is just a part of my journey. Meister Eckhart is one of my favorite’s to read.

Recently I dealt with some fairly scary health issues that almost took my life. When these events happen, I go more inward with my thinking and really reflect on what my true perspective represents. I am always reminded that through suffering comes grace and we can always find God on the fringes. Meister Eckhart just seems to really understand without giving away the answer too easily.

A pastor I have worked with for many years recently wrote me a letter of recommendation for graduate school. I made this small piece of art as a token of my appreciation. What is always amazing is how I thought I was going to create a totally different piece but this one just seem to happen.

“The eye with which I see God is the same I with which God sees me” Meister Eckhart.

Feb

Fluid Topography

Fluid Acrylic on 5X7 panel.

I have recently been playing with the Golden High Flow Acrylic paints in conjunction with Art Resin, and I seem to be having lots of fun. The best part is watching the way these beautiful colors meld together.

Most of the pieces I have done have been small. I love large pieces of artwork, but there is something intimate about a little piece of work.

Oct

The love of simple.

As a professional I get to photograph a lot of interesting people. A lot of times I am directed in complex theatrical means to create the WOW image. My favorite however is a simple portrait that speaks volumes about personality and age related to the person in the portrait. It’s always amazing to me the way a photo means so much more when the subject is related to unconditional love. The above photo is a portrait I took of my little girl Zoe. She is the family cheerleader. She is tiny in size but large in life. To me and my entire family, Zoe is a spark of joy in our world. On the outside others may think she is cute or sweet but knowing her is a gift. Keeping it simple is what she does best. Keeping a portrait simple is what I do best.

Stay simple America, it’s what YOU do best.